Solazyme Up In Early Trading: $21 and Climbing: It’s not LinkedIn but Solazyme’s IPO is climbing.

Solazyme--the company that produces oil for cosmetics, industrial equipment and airplanes from genetically modified algae force-fed on sugar--held its IPO today and so far it's doing well.

The stock is up to $21.40 (under the ticker SZYM). I'm predicting a $23 close by end of day. Solazyme sold nearly 11 million shares for $18 a share in the IPO. The company was founded and continues to be managed by two college friends, just like Microsoft, Google and Hewlett-Packard.

Here's the story on the IPO details from late last night

Solazyme will hold its anticipated public offering tomorrow at $18 a share, slightly higher than the earlier estimated price in the range of $15 to $17.

A total of 10.975 million shares will be issued by the company and shareholders. That's almost $198 million.It's a signature moment for a boomlet in biochemicals and biofuels. The company -- which produces algae through a fermentation process -- was one of the first to tout the power of algae, which grows faster and produces more oil per acre than corn, soy, rapeseed or other biofuel crops. Advocates say algae is capable of generating 5,000 gallons of oil or more a year per acre, compared to a few hundred at best for other crops.

Chevron, Dow Chemical, Sephora, Quantas, the U.S. Air Force and Unilever are among its strategic partners. Dow, for instance, has signed a deal with the company to develop organisms to produce algae that can make oil for transformers and other grid equipment. Dow may buy up to 20 million gallons in 2013. Investors include Lightspeed Venture Partners, Chevron and VantagePoint Venture Partners.

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